Conducting Parolee's Revocation Hearing After the 120-Day Period

In Lee v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 141 Pa. Commw. 79, 596 A.2d 264 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1991), this Court considered the argument that a parolee's revocation hearing conducted 186 days after his guilty plea violated due process because the parole agent was aware of the pending charges. The Court rejected the argument and held: A parolee has a due process right to a revocation hearing within a reasonable time after being taken into custody. ... Reasonableness requires a balancing of the interests of a parolee with the physical capacity of the Board to act on parole revocation matters. ... First, it is reasonable for the 120-day period mandated by 37 Pa.Code 71.4(1) to begin to run on the date that the Board receives official verification of a parolee's conviction, because, to hold otherwise, would impose on the Board the Herculean task of searching the dockets of every court of record in the United States on a daily basis to discover when a parolee was convicted. ... Moreover, considering the logistical problems the Board would face in discovering when a parolee was convicted, it is also reasonable for a parole agent to wait for official verification even if the agent is aware that charges are, or may be, pending. Id. at 265. More recently in Vanderpool v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 874 A.2d 1280, 1284-1285 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2005), the Court reaffirmed the Lee holding and concluded that a revocation hearing held within 120 days from the receipt of the official verification, but more than 120 days after the Board became aware of the parolee's conviction, was timely.